We have studied the immigration and border crossing of families and adult individuals. An aspect of immigration or transnational movement I have been interested in lately is international adoptions. In my CES 492 class, we talk about the effects and the trends in US adoptions internationally. When I first thought about applying it to the Chicano and Latino arena, my first assumption was that there are very few adoptions immediately south of the US border. I was surprised at the numbers.
This link takes you to the Immigrants Visas Issued to Orphans coming to the US.
(http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/stats/stats_451.html)
What this shows is that currently, Guatemalan children are the second most adopted (China is first). Guatemala has been consistently at the top 5 of adopted children countries since 1992. For Mexico, though, it's a different story. Mexican orphans are consistently at the bottom of the most adopted children. This number doesn't really surprise me much becaues of the close proximity Mexico is to the US.
If you look at the bigger picture of transnational adoption, you might assume that the United States is continuing a colonial project. A perception that is commonly taken is that US families are acting like humanitarians and are just "helping" the orhapns. But in reality, these children are being commodified and literally are bought for by American families. When a child is transnationally adopted, the agency (public or private) issues a new "birth certificate" as if to say that the child is being "born" into their new family. There is also an option to cut off any biological parent or relative from the child's life for good.
So, the orphans coming in from Latin America are being "reborn" and are forced to assimilate to American culture. Though it may seem that the US has good intentions or are acting humanely, they are in fact committing a form of cultural genocide through these children.
3 comments:
Ryan,
It is important to relate the high rates of adoption in Guatemala to the role of the U.S. government in that country by sending soldiers and weapons to the Contras during the civil war in the 1980s.This war terrorized the countrside where many young children were recruited to join the arm and guerrilla forces, thus breaking families and forcing some to give them up for adoption.
Transnational adoption is connected to U.S. foreign policies.
-Profe
After working in an orphanage in Colombia, I can tell you that these parents in the U.S. are not commiting a cultural genocide nor anything wrong. They are helping these families out. Our foster/adoption system here is not very effective and overrun, but in South American countries it is terrible the life some of these young children live. And as the professor said, it is not these families who are forcing them to come the U.S., but the government and the need for money. I know it is a terrible situation, but I think looking at these bleeding hearts and other topics like this as wrong is not focusing on the bigger picture. The civil wars in Guatemala, Colombia, etc., reigns of terror in Argentina and Chile and many more are the things that we need to focus our attention on and try to bring it to the attention of the general public.
I think cultural genocide may be a bit strong by but I do agree that cutting off the babies heritage is a little weird and controlling. Sometimes the U.S. politicians act before they think. What would you suggest they do? Because generally these babies are being taken out of terrible situations where they may have died or been forced into slavery. But I agree that the base culture should try to be preserved.
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